Once you've established yourself as a monster, no one cares if you were a sensitive artist before that. Hitler was an artist, remember, and John Wilkes Booth no doubt gave many heart-wrenching performances as an actor.

I doubt the Secret Service nor any Federal Judge is going to nlet him go. There is no upside....

like:On March 2, 2011, after 42 years in prison, Sirhan's 14th parole hearing was held, with Sirhan represented by his current attorney, William Francis Pepper. At his parole hearing, Sirhan testified that he continues to have no memory of the assassination nor of any details of his 1969 trial and confession. Pepper also repeated the claim, that Sirhan's lawyers previously stated in the past, that Sirhan's mind was "programmed" and then "wiped" by an unknown conspiracy behind the assasination which is why Sirhan has no memory of the murder or of the aftermath. His parole was denied on the grounds that Sirhan still does not understand the full ramifications of his crime.

You did it to get attention, and now you're wondering why it's that way?

"No one can see my art,” said Hinckley, who writes songs, plays guitar, and paints landscapes. “I have these other aspects of my life that no one knows about. I’m an artist. I’m a musician. Nobody knows that."

That's what you get when you deliberately try to shoot someone! And end up hurting someone else who wasn't even your target!

You tried to murder someone, Hinckley. How is public knowledge of your art supposed to offset that? None of your landscapes or guitar pieces exonerates you.

You're a one-note footnote in history because you brought it onto yourself. If you wanted to avoid that, you shouldn't have opened fire.

An old man reminisces: "I built tall buildings, miles of railroad, important bridges, amassed a great fortune, and broke world speed records. Am I remembered for any of that? No! But shag one sheep..."

The way people stereotype Presidential assassins is very unfair. John Hinckley is a different man than Leon Czolgosz. I think of all Presidential assassins Czolgosz had, by far, the most difficult name to pronounce and spell. That's probably why he remains so obscure. People are just too lazy to look him up. John Wilkes Booth deserves recognition as the first Hollywood activist. I think Sean Penn should make a sympathetic biopic of his life..... Sirhan Sirhan was the first Muslim terrorist to influence an American election. If he ever made parole, he'd be given a parade through Gaza..... Hinckley is kind of a schlub among Presidential assassins. I keep confusing him with the guy who shot Lennon.

Besides injuring Ronald Reagan, he also shot Brady in the head, injuring the man for life!

Yeah, well, in 2007 I was stuck up up by someone I later found out had previously been sentenced to 15 to Life for actually murdering someone but had been released in just 10 years with no rehabilitation having taken place. I found out his name when I found out he had since gone back to prison for drug trafficking, kidnapping, and rape (he was raping and pimping a drug-addicted female).

Hinckley attempted to murder, and caused severe injuries, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been locked up far longer than people who actually murder and have no intention of stopping being violent criminals.

His confinement should continue to be eased up if he is not a risk. There are a lot of violent people released by our justice system where I'm left absolutely shocked by their releases, but what's so scary about Hinckley 30 years on?

For example: "A forensic psychologist endorsed a proposal to allow presidential assailant John Hinckley Jr. more freedom away from his mental hospital, giving his opinion that Hinckley 'would not pose a significant risk.'"

Also: "Hinckley was found by a jury to be insane when he shot and wounded Reagan outside a Washington hotel in 1981. Doctors say his mental illness has been in remission for years, however, and a judge has granted Hinckley increasing freedom from the hospital."

As far as the folks in this thread comparing Hinckley to Hitler, if I were to imagine that the Jesus I've been told about is real I'd think Jesus would probably see more in common between Hitler and, say, Saddam's backer in the Iraq-Iran War (Reagan), and less so the pathetic mental patient who shot at a politician for deranged reasons, has sat in a hospital for the last 30 years painting landscapes, and hasn't harmed a fly when they let him go visit his mother.

Which doesn't mean I think Reagan was like Hitler. Hitler probably would've had Hicnkley summarily executed as some of you wanted, whereas Reagan forgave him:

"Former President Ronald Reagan says he forgives would-be assassin John Hinckley and prays that "he should have some healing for himself..."

"I found out he wasn't thinking on all cylinders," Reagan said...."

Reagan even wanted to forgive him in person: "It wasn't enough that Ronald Reagan had forgiven John Hinckley Jr. in his heart. He wanted to forgive the young man to his face.Pope John Paul II had extended his hand to the man who tried to kill him, and Reagan was apparently inspired to do the same."

Sirhan's father was apparently Christian. I do not think Sirhan absorbed a lot of Christian values, however.

He did absorb other values from his parent and his background. At his trial, he said he killed Kennedy "with 20 years of malice aforethought." The 20 years referred to the span from 1948, when Israel became an independent nation, to the night he murdered Kennedy. That night he also said "I did it for my country." He meant Palestine, where he is now a hero.

Funny, I also think "prisoner for life" when I think of him. I guess that's why he had all that time to explore his artistic side; when you've got your three hots and a cot (and free medical care) taken care of, you can go out on the edge.